1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus (an image processing apparatus) having a function to store a setting value relating to an image processing job as a script and to load and execute the script according to an instruction of a user, a control method therefor, and a storage medium storing a control program therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recent multifunctional apparatus (a multifunctional printer) has a printer function, a FAX transmitting and receiving function, an e-mail transmitting and receiving function, and the like in addition to a copy function, thus improving operational efficiency.
The more functions the multifunctional apparatus has, the more items must be set by a user on an operation unit of the multifunctional apparatus. To cope with such situation, a macro function is suggested to record operations performed by the user and assign the recorded content to one operation key, thus improving operability thereof.
For example, as the multifunctional apparatus having the macro function, there exist a first multifunctional apparatus suggested in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H05-246111 and a second multifunctional apparatus suggested in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H08-329338.
In the first multifunctional apparatus, the sequence of operation keys sequentially pressed down is registered as a macro (a processing procedure) using key codes generated when the operation keys are pressed down. When a call key corresponding to this macro is pressed down, this macro is executed.
On the other hand, in the second multifunctional apparatus, while the multifunctional apparatus is caused to perform actual operations, the executed processings therein are registered as a macro, so that a mistake in the registration of the macro can be prevented.
The macro function is a very convenient function to reduce operational cost of the multifunctional apparatus, but great many macros should be prepared depending on purposes. Especially, there exists a case where only some settings are replaced by a user, and a solution has been sought.
For example, when using a macro to read a document and to transmit digital data thereof to a folder of each user, the number of necessary macros reaches the number of users to provide the macros to all users, which increases difficulty to generate and manage the macros.
A usage of a reserved word representing property information of a user as a setting value of a job can be considered as a technique to combine a plurality of macros as many as the number of users into one macro. For example, it is a technique to set a reserved word representing a user ID in combination with a destination, and to execute the macro after replacing the reserved word with the user ID of a user giving an instruction to execute the macro when the reserved word is detected during execution.
However, depending on the type of a user property, there may be a case where an administrator of user information fails to set the property based on a correct policy or each user entrusted to set his or her own property fails to correctly set the property.
Thus, if the macro is generated on the assumption that the property is correctly set, there may be a case where the macro is executed under the settings not intended by a creator of macro, and there exists a problem that the creator of the macro and a user instructing to execute the macro do not notice that the macro is executed under the unintended settings.
In addition, even if the properties of each user are correctly set, there exists a case where the reserved is replaced with an inappropriate setting value depending on the used setting value, and there exists a problem that the creator of macro does not notice that the macro is inappropriately executed.